Chapter 21
She headed to the barn with confident steps.
On the way, feeling hungry, she ate strawberries one by one, and stamped her footprints firmly in the field where the snow hadn’t melted yet, setting out to find the culprit.
Before long, her steps came to an abrupt halt in front of the gloomy barn.
‘What should I do.’
It was good that she had come energetically, but it was too scary.
Moreover, there was even a ruined tower nearby exuding a menacing atmosphere, creating an ambiance as if ghosts might appear.
Sometime ago, by eavesdropping on the maids’ conversation, she had heard that her father-in-law, that is, the previous duke, had been imprisoned in that ruined tower……
“Pii……”
Whether father-in-law or whatever, the ghosts were more concerning.
Asil was as scared of ghosts as she was of humans in the world. If she had known it would be like this, she should have come with the knight human.
But since she was aiming for the ferocious dragon beastman, she couldn’t run away now.
In the end, with her face pale blue and trembling all over, she said.
“Pii…… Pi-yat-pi.” (The…… rabbit friend goes in first.)
“Kyuuu.”
The rabbit, who had quickly chickened out, ran behind and pushed Asil’s back.
It meant for her to go in first.
No way! Asil quickly went behind the rabbit and clung tightly to its back. And then pushed it forward strongly.
“Piya-pi-ya.” (Asil will protect you.)
“Kyuuu!”
“Piyat-pi, pi-ya!” (It won’t be scary at all, because Asil is behind you!)
“Kyuaa!”
The baby rabbit, who had suddenly become the shield, screamed, but Asil paid no mind.
With her front paws damp with cold sweat stuck firmly to the rabbit’s body, she stepped into the barn one foot at a time.
In the barn, where a musty moldy smell lingered, there were scattered broken furniture, charred wooden stumps, things whose shapes were unrecognizable, along with animal fur.
A thin ray of light entered through the gaps in the jaggedly collapsed ceiling.
Asil relied on that light and entered little by little.
‘Once I actually entered, it’s not scary at all.’
Suppressing the urge to run away immediately and deliberately thinking on
ly that it wasn’t scary at all.
‘Asil is a cool dragon. They can’t block Asil’s path with something like this!’
Then, the moment something hanging from the ceiling in the darkness tapped her head, she screamed.
“Piyaaaaak!”
“Kyaaaak!”
The rabbit, startled together without knowing why, screamed at the top of its lungs.
With strength drained from their legs, unable to go forward or backward, the two animals hugged each other and just shrieked loudly.
In the midst of that, they slyly lifted their heads at a single beam of light falling from above.
“Pii……?”
A few strands of straw were dangling from the collapsed ceiling. That was exactly what had hit Asil’s head just now.
Holding the rabbit tightly, Asil, with trembling front paws, poked the straw lightly and let out a sigh.
“Pi-hya.”
Eh, it’s nothing much. It wasn’t scary at all.
But that was only for a moment; sensing something moving like lightning from behind, she screamed again.
“Piyaaaaaaaak!”
“Kyaaaaaaaak!”
In response, the something that had been moving behind Asil also startled and let out a throatful cry.
“Kyaoooong!”
It was a small brown fox.
Eh, what is it. It was a fox friend! Moreover, its body size was similar to hers.
Letting out another pi-hya, a sigh of relief, Asil, shaking her legs in a jittery dance, spoke to it.
“Piyat-pii.” (Fox friend, hello.)
However, at the faint scent wafting from the fox, she tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
‘It smells similar to husband.’
It seemed this fox lived with someone from her husband’s family.
Otherwise, there was no way it would smell like this.
However, it wasn’t grandfather-in-law’s scent. It wasn’t husband’s uncle’s scent either.
Then whose scent could it be?
“Kyaaang.”
At that moment, the fox, as if it didn’t want to deal with her, made an unintelligible cry and trotted away.
Asil, hugging tightly the rabbit on the verge of fainting, quickly followed behind it.
“Pii-ya?” (Do you live here by any chance?)
“……”
“Pii-ya pii? Pi-ya-pi-ya-pi-ya.” (Didn’t you see the human woman who was here? She looks like this.)
Asil recalled the portrait of the vassal’s wife that Dylan had briefly shown her and kneaded her own face.
Then the fox, who had been walking primly, shot back curtly.
“Cong.” (You’re ugly.)
“Pii?” (Have you seen her?)
“Kyaaang.”
The fox, making another unintelligible cry, climbed onto a broken chair and licked its fur.
Since it wasn’t saying it didn’t know, it seemed like it knew something. Asil waited for the fox friend to tell her.
“Kaeng?” (Aren’t you going?)
When she persistently held out, the fox grumbled with an expression like it was annoyed to death.
Even when she didn’t budge, it curled its tail roundly and asked probing its true intentions.
“Kyaaong?” (Why are you looking for the human woman?)
“Pii-ya pii.” (To scold her.)
“Kyaaang?” (Why?)
“Pii-ya.” (Because she hurt grandfather-in-law.)
“Cong……?” (Grandfather-in-law……?)
The fox, narrowing its eyes, scanned Asil from top to bottom.
And finally, as if understanding, it nodded.
“Kyarrung.” (So you’re that divine beast from the rumors. Ugly lizard.)
“Piiit!” (Asil is not a lizard!)
“Cong, kyaaang. Kyaang.” (Follow me. I’ll take you to where the human woman is.)
The fox, elegantly shaking its fluffy tail, guided Asil.
Exiting through the back door of the barn and passing through a deserted path, there was a space that seemed like someone had camped out.
The scent similar to her husband’s lingered strongly, as if it had been here until just moments ago but left.
On the ground, a woman who looked exactly like the one in the portrait Dylan had shown lay collapsed, unconscious.
Her nape was smeared with thick perfume to prevent tracking by scent, and since the perfume smell was noticeable even from afar, it seemed she had been brought here from somewhere else.
The fox poked the woman’s body and said.
“Cong. Kyaaang.” (Take her. If you can.)
With its body so small, it seemed confident she couldn’t take her.
But would Asil be a dragon to yield to something like that.
Asil effortlessly started dragging the human woman, who was several times larger than herself.
“Kyaaang?!”
The startled fox jumped up.
Regardless, Asil moved her feet diligently. The baby rabbit, though insufficient, helped with all the strength it had from nursing.
Thus, they passed the stream path and the small path.
Even by then, the vassal’s wife hadn’t woken up.
Even though her whole body was covered in scratches from being dragged around, she didn’t wake up, so it didn’t seem like she was simply sleeping.
‘I need to hurry and show her to husband and grandfather-in-law.’
Her whole body was covered in dirt and sweat, but it was okay.
Gurgle, though her stomach, which had eaten nothing but strawberries, was rumbling, it was bearable.
Asil transported the lady without wrinkling her face even once.
In the middle, she found an abandoned handcart and thought, this would work, and was grunting to lift it up onto it.
“Damn it, here! The missing woman is here!”
A voice she had never heard before rang in her eardrums.
Wondering who it was, she turned around to see a masked thug.
It was the assassin hired by Biante to kill the lady.
“What’s a lizard doing carrying her?”
“What?”
Hearing his shout, the other assassins came running.
Then, seeing the tiny Asil, they made ridiculous expressions.
“Man, I got scared thinking she escaped.”
“Where did this lizard come from?”
“Who knows. Now that we’ve found her, let’s kill her quickly.”
“Pii……”
Like a brave dragon beastman, Asil put strength into her eyes and broke out in cold sweat.
She had been tense the whole time, and dragging a human several times larger than herself had left her with no remaining strength.
Her stomach was hungry so she couldn’t even breathe fire, and now she had to face scary humans with swords in this state.
The assassins snickered.
“Look how scared it is. Kid, stealing is bad, you know.”
“We’ll send you off painlessly, so close your eyes tight.”
No way, Asil is going to fight the bad humans!
“Pii-ya!”
Asil, putting all her strength into a loud kiai, took a fighting stance.
Then the assassins, going “hoo,” as if teasing, gripped their swords tighter.
“Look at that, pretty brave.”
“But dead is dead all the same.”
The assassins slowly approached.
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By Anna 💓
